Bryan Kohberger Documents: DNA, Elantra, and Search Warrants

The documents released in the Bryan Kohberger case, unsealed in waves after his July 23, 2025, sentencing, gave the public its first detailed look at how investigators identified him, what the surviving roommates saw and heard the night of the November 13, 2022, killings, and how Kohberger behaved in the weeks before and after the murders. Moscow police posted 314 investigative supplements within hours of sentencing, redacted under the Idaho Public Records Act.¹²³⁴ FBI-generated records were not part of the release and must be requested from the FBI directly.

Judge Steven Hippler lifted the gag order the day of sentencing and said remaining sealed court filings would be reviewed and released newest to oldest, with redactions, largely after the 42-day appeals window closed in early September 2025.⁵

What the Roommates Saw and Heard That Night

The surviving roommates’ accounts, previously withheld under the gag order, laid out a timeline the public had never seen. Around 4:00 a.m. on November 13, Dylan Mortensen was woken by noises upstairs and heard Kaylee Goncalves say something like “there’s someone here.” Mortensen then heard crying from Xana Kernodle’s room, followed by a male voice — not Ethan Chapin’s — saying, “It’s ok, I’m going to help you.”⁶

When Mortensen opened her bedroom door, she saw a figure in black clothing wearing a mask over his mouth and nose walking toward the back sliding glass door. She described him as lean-built with one visible “bushy eyebrow.” At 4:17 a.m., a nearby security camera recorded what investigators described as distorted voices or a whimper, a loud thud, and a dog barking. By 4:20 a.m., Mortensen was texting Bethany Funke, who was on the first floor. “I’m not kidding I am so freaked out,” Mortensen wrote. “So am I,” Funke replied, urging her to come downstairs. Communication between them stopped around 4:37 a.m. Neither called 911 until 11:56 a.m., when Funke reported that Kernodle was unconscious.⁷

Crime scene reports described an intense struggle, damaged facial structures on some victims, an open back patio door, and footprints in the snow.⁵ According to the released records, Xana Kernodle was stabbed more than 50 times and had defensive wounds, and Kaylee Goncalves suffered facial disfigurement.⁸

The Knife Sheath and the DNA Trail

A tan leather Ka-Bar knife sheath left on the bed next to Madison Mogen’s body was the single piece of physical evidence that broke the case. The Idaho state lab identified a single source of male DNA on the button snap.⁹ Kohberger had no criminal record, so the profile did not hit in the CODIS database. Investigators sent the sample to Othram, a private forensic lab, on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 2022. A DNA profile was generated within 48 hours.¹⁰

By December 19, 2022, the FBI gave Kohberger’s name to the Moscow Police Department.¹⁰ To confirm the match, the FBI and a local sanitation department ran a nighttime trash pull at the Kohberger family home in Pennsylvania and recovered a Q-tip. Analysis confirmed the Q-tip DNA matched the father of the person whose DNA was on the sheath.¹¹ A cheek swab taken after Kohberger’s arrest showed he was a statistical match to the sheath DNA.⁹ Othram’s founder David Mittelman later pushed back against media descriptions of the evidence as “trace” DNA, saying, “There was tons of DNA.”

Prosecutors also obtained Kohberger’s Amazon records through a spring 2023 search warrant. The records showed Kohberger bought a Ka-Bar knife, a sheath, and a sharpener between March 20 and March 30, 2022. Amazon provided the data in June 2023 and prosecutors turned it over to the defense two weeks later. The defense moved to exclude Kohberger’s click activity, arguing the data was “cherry-picked” and came from a “household account shared by Mr. Kohberger and other family members.” That motion was still pending when he pleaded guilty.¹²

The White Hyundai Elantra

Surveillance cameras captured a white Hyundai Elantra near the King Road house in the early morning of November 13, 2022. A neighbor’s camera recorded the car speeding away roughly five minutes after the murders, fast enough that it nearly lost control rounding a corner. The car had no front license plate, consistent with Pennsylvania registration.¹¹

Kohberger had been stopped in the vehicle during a routine traffic stop in August 2022 and gave his phone number, which gave investigators his service provider and a Pennsylvania address.¹³ Database searches confirmed the Elantra was registered with Washington State University. Kohberger obtained new Washington plates on November 18, 2022, five days after the murders.⁶

Digital forensics records show the car became a source of intense anxiety for him. Investigators found he had downloaded a PDF listing Hyundai Elantras registered at WSU. On December 29, 2022, after reading a news article about police searching for the white Elantra, Kohberger searched online for “wiretap” and “psychopaths paranoid,” visited the Moscow Police Department website to check for press releases, looked up an auto detailing shop, and within ten minutes began shopping online for a new car.¹⁴ When investigators eventually searched the Elantra, they found the interior essentially disassembled and meticulously cleaned.¹¹

Cell Phone Location Data

The probable cause affidavit stated Kohberger’s phone connected to towers near the victims’ King Road residence at least 12 times between June 2022 and the date of the killings, typically in the late evening or early morning.⁶ On the morning of November 13, cell tower data placed Kohberger’s phone in Pullman at approximately 2:47 a.m., after which it stopped connecting to the network. About two hours later the phone reappeared south of Moscow and traveled back toward Pullman.¹⁵ Pullman surveillance cameras separately captured a white Elantra matching Kohberger’s vehicle leaving and returning that night, corroborated by the tower data.¹⁶

Kohberger Through the Eyes of Others

The released files include statements from classmates, colleagues, and jail staff. A former friend called him “intelligent but also selfish,” saying he would mislead others into completing his work and interacted inappropriately with female students.⁵ A Washington State University teaching assistant reported seeing scratches on Kohberger’s face and wounded knuckles around October and November 2022.⁸

In custody, fellow inmates described him as “weird,” noting excessive handwashing, long showers, daytime napping, and lengthy daily video calls with his mother.⁸ When investigators first interviewed him after his arrest, Kohberger said he only knew about the homicides from a university alert. When asked to discuss the killings further, he requested a lawyer.⁵

The Pullman Police Records

Documents released by the City of Pullman show that Kohberger had applied for a research internship with the Pullman Police Department and interviewed for the position on April 12, 2022. He was not selected. In an earlier internship essay he wrote about wanting to help rural law enforcement “better collect and analyze technological data in public safety operations.”¹⁷¹⁸

The Pullman records also include investigators’ review of a separate October 2021 apartment break-in by a masked intruder armed with a knife. After Kohberger’s arrest police revisited the case but concluded he was not in Pullman at the time and had no connection to it. The files also detail “Operation Turtle Shell,” the plan to move Kohberger from Pennsylvania to Idaho after his arrest. The plan addressed heavy media interest and the possibility of someone targeting him, and it called for securing him in a ballistic vest and helmet during transport.¹⁷

What Was Seized Under the Search Warrants

Kohberger was arrested at his parents’ Pennsylvania home on December 30, 2022. That same day, warrants were executed on his apartment at 1630 NE Valley Road in Pullman, a storage closet in Building F of the Steptoe Apartments, and his office in Wilson-Short Hall at WSU. Items seized from the apartment included a black nitrile-type glove, receipts from Walmart and Marshalls, the dust container from a vacuum cleaner, a Fire TV stick, various hair strands, a computer tower, and multiple stains, including dark red spots and reddish or brown marks found on surfaces, a mattress cover, and a pillow. Nothing was taken from the office.⁴

Separate warrants were served on Kohberger’s person, his parents’ home, and the Elantra in Pennsylvania on the same date.¹⁹ On January 3, 2023, the Whitman County Superior Court ordered all items seized under the Washington warrants transferred to Idaho State Police Detective Jeffory Talbott. A nondissemination order was filed in Latah County District Court the same day, starting the secrecy restrictions that lasted through sentencing.⁴

What Is Still Not Public

Not everything was released. On October 1, 2025, Second District Judge Megan Marshall granted a request from the families of Madison Mogen and Ethan Chapin and ordered the City of Moscow to redact portions of images showing victims’ bodies or the blood immediately around them. Marshall called the photos “incredibly disturbing” and found dissemination would be an “unwarranted invasion of personal privacy,” concluding the unredacted images would have a “minor effect” on public understanding of the case but a “profound effect” on victims’ loved ones.²⁰ FBI-generated records also remain outside the state releases and require a separate request to that agency.²

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City of Moscow. Kohberger Investigation Documents
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Idaho State Police. Idaho State Police Releases Moscow Homicide Public Records
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City of Pullman. Kohberger Public Records
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New York Times. Kohberger Search Records From WSU
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CNN. Unsealed Documents Bryan Kohberger Case
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CNN. Key Takeaways Idaho Affidavit Bryan Kohberger
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CNN. Idaho Student Murders Roommates Texts
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BBC. Bryan Kohberger Documents Reveal Details
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WAPT. Bryan Kohberger Knife Sheath Trial
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Fox 13 News. Bryan Kohberger Left Behind Far More DNA Than Previously Known
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Court TV. Q-Tip, Spotless Car Were Key Evidence in Bryan Kohberger Murder Case
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Idaho Statesman. Bryan Kohberger Amazon Evidence
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Sandline Global. Electronic Evidence Picking Up the Pieces
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KTVU. Investigators Reveal Kohberger Panicked in Real Time After Learning of Suspect Vehicle
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CBS News. Bryan Kohberger Cell Phone Data Alibi
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Yahoo News. Bryan Kohberger Documents Released Washington
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KXLY. New Kohberger Documents Reveal Details of Operation Turtle Shell
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ABC News. Bryan Kohberger Affidavit Court Documents
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Pennsylvania Courts. Commonwealth v. Kohberger Docket
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ABC 7 News. Idaho Judge Bars Release of Graphic Crime Scene Photos